Phytosterols are steroid alcohols that widely exist in a variety of plants in a free state or in such a form as a fatty acid ester, a glycoside, or a ferulic acid ester. The phytosterols have excellent blood cholesterol-lowering actions, and hence the phytosterols have been blended in edible fats or oils. Among the phytosterols, β-sitosterol is considered to have an excellent cholesterol-lowering action (Non Patent Documents 1 and 2).
The phytosterols are hydrolyzed in the stages of extraction from natural products and condensation and purification of the extract, and mostly turn to phytosterols in a free state. There is a problem in that the phytosterols in a free state dissolve in edible fats or oils in only extremely small amounts.
Thus, studies have been made on developing a technology for solubilizing a phytosterol in an edible fat or oil. There are proposed, for example, a method involving solubilizing a phytosterol in an oil by using vitamin E and an emulsifier each in a large amount (Patent Document 1), and a method involving adding a phytosterol in the form of a fatty acid ester to a fat or oil (Patent Document 2), or the like. Further, it is reported that, when an edible fat or oil containing, together with a phytosterol, an oryzanol and a triterpene alcohol, which have similar physiological effects to those of the phytosterol, comprises a free type triterpene alcohol and a free type phytosterol each in a specified amount or less, the edible fat or oil is excellent (Patent Document 3).